July 30, 2015

Varoufakis Sued for Alleged Treason While Syriza’s Left Platform is Accused of Conspiracy

Transcript:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=14366

July 23, 2015

Lincoln & the Socialist Roots of the Republican Party (may be helpful in conversations on socialism)

Lincoln and the socialist roots of the Republican Party

These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.
 —Abraham Lincoln, from his first speech as an Illinois state legislator, 1837

Everyone now is more or less a Socialist. 
—Charles Dana, managing editor of the New York Tribune, and Lincoln’s assistant secretary of war, 1848

The workingmen of Europe feel sure that, as the American War of Independence initiated a new era of ascendancy for the middle class, so the American Antislavery War will do for the working classes. They consider it an earnest of the epoch to come that it fell to the lot of Abraham Lincoln, the single-minded son of the working class, to lead his country through the matchless struggle for the rescue of an enchained race and the reconstruction of a social world. 
—Karl Marx and the First International Workingmen’s Association to Lincoln, 1864

These quotations begin a chapter in John Nichols new book, The “S” Word: A Short History of an American Tradition—Socialism. He wrote The “S” Word in response to Newt Gingrich’s comment, in 2010, that “the socialist infiltration of American government and media is even more disturbing than the threats from foreign terrorists.”

Although both Republicans and Democrats pretend that socialism is a foreign idea antithetical to the “American Way,” Nichols argues that socialism has a long, proud history in America. He writes about Tom Paine who admired early socialists, Horace Greeley who employed Karl Marx as a correspondent for the New York Tribune, and Helen Keller who was an avowed socialist. But one fascinating chapter, reprinted in full at the International Socialist Review, reveals that Republican president Abraham Lincoln had not only immersed himself in the ideas of European Utopian Socialists, and German Communists, but spoke about them publicly.

Lincoln was an avid reader of newspapers, especially of the New York Tribune, which was the great Republican paper of the day. It took a strong stand against slavery in the south. But it also had forceful opinions on the relationship between Labor and Capital, arguing that “Labor needs not to combat but to command Capital.” Greeley wanted to “expose the crimes whereby wealth is amassed and luxury enjoyed.” Nichols writes:

MORE:

http://www.occasionalplanet.org/2011/12/16/lincoln-and-the-socialist-roots-of-the-republican-party/

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So, the next time someone slams "socialism" as communism or some such BS, please educate them, chances are it will come from a republican who just doesn't get it, lol, but ignorance knows no limits, it could come from anyone, even a dem.

July 23, 2015

Prof. R.D. Wolff's Global Capitalism: July 2015 Monthly Update

Bio: Richard D. Wolff is a Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and currently a Visiting Professor of the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School University in New York. He is the author of many books, including Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism, and Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA.
Wolff hosts the weekly hour-long radio program Economic Update on WBAI, 99.5 FM, New York City (Pacifica Radio).
More: http://rdwolff.com/content/about
http://www.rdwolff.com

For more info or donations: http://www.democracyatwork.info/

Note: Used by permission of Prof. R.D. Wolff.

July 22, 2015

Richard Wolff: On Bernie Sanders and Socialism | #GRITtv

Published on Jul 14, 2015

This week: On Sanders and Socialism. Is socialism still an American taboo? Not so much, says professor Richard Wolff; nor was it in the past, says Nation columnist John Nichols. Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, and a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School University in New York City. He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books, including his most recent; Capitalism’s Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown 2010- 2014, and he hosts the weekly Economic Update podcast. John Nichols' many books include The "S" Word: A Short History of an American Tradition...Socialism, and, most recently, Dollarocracy: How the Money-and-Media-Election Complex is Destroying America. This episode also features commentary from Laura on renaming capitalism.

July 21, 2015

Leo Panitch and Sharmini Peries at the SYRIZA Headquarters in Athens - July 21, 2015 (TRNN)

SYRIZA's Stability Rocked by New Memorandum (1/3)



SYRIZA's Stability Rocked by New Memorandum (2/3)



SYRIZA'S Stability Rocked by New Memorandum (3/3)




Transcripts: http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=14289

Bio
Leo Panitch is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a distinguished research professor of political science at York University in Toronto. He is the author of many books, the most recent of which include UK Deutscher Memorial Prize winner The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire and In and Out of Crisis: The Global Financial Meltdown and Left Alternatives. He is also a co-editor of the Socialist Register, whose 2013 volume is entitled The Question of Strategy.

July 21, 2015

Keiser Report: Two Faced Greek Govt (E786)

Published on Jul 21, 2015

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss Greek prime ministers bearing referendums as privatization schemes move full steam ahead as billionaires and celebrities begin buying up Greek islands on the cheap. In the second half, Max interviews Eddy Travia of Coinsilium.com about the company’s upcoming IPO on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London. Coinsilium Group facilitates the implementation of blockchain technology products and services alongside media and corporate advisory services.

July 20, 2015

Catherine Austin Fitts-Central Bank Warfare Model Wearing Thin (USA Watchdog, Greg Hunter)

Published on Jul 19, 2015

Financial expert Catherine Austin Fitts says, “The central banking warfare model is wearing thin. There are three things you can do: You can have war, you can have depopulation or you can have change. The voice you are hearing coming back from the BRICS, the voice you are hearing coming back from the Greek people is let’s try change. The IMF is saying . . . you know they have a point. Puerto Rico and Greece have rung that bell that says we have to create value in the real economy. You can’t eat it if you don’t grow it, and we can’t grow it if we are all engaged in disaster capitalism.”

Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with investment banker Catherine Austin Fitts of Solari.com.

July 14, 2015

Keiser Report: Lethal Bloodlettings for Greece (E783) 7-14-15

Published on Jul 14, 2015

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss what Lord Byron’s infamous debt problems and his death by bloodletting can teach us about the Greek debt situation. In the second half, Max interviews Adam Leonard of BlockEx about a new white label fiat to crypto forex exchange running off their software. They also discuss leaving the US dollar off the exchange due to US regulations and the very long arm of the US law.
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Bargains everywhere, there's a yard sale for the oligarchs, Greece is being sold off for privatization & for the luxury of the elite...we are witnessing Shock Doctrine, and yes, class warfare, the laws are written to aid and abet this carnage. The Troika answers to no law. Aren't we all looking forward to TPP? The pigs at the trough are hungry, and insatiable. They accomplish all of this on the backs of the working class, making beggars of all of us, and of nations. What's the real war? Why it is a war on YOU, a war YOU are paying for & one YOU are losing. (By you, I mean "we"...really, it is on the back of every man, woman and child who isn't uber-wealthy, and frankly, haven't WE all had enough?)

July 13, 2015

Exclusive: Yanis Varoufakis opens up about his five month battle to save Greece (7-13-15)

In his first interview since resigning, Greece's former Finance Minister says the Eurogroup is “completely and utterly” controlled by Germany, Greece was “set up” and last week’s referendum was wasted.

Greece has finally reached an agreement with its creditors. The specifics have not yet been published, but it is clear that the deal signed is more punitive and demanding than the one that its government has spent the past five months desperately trying to resist.

The accord follows 48 hours in which Germany demanded control of Greece’s finances or its withdrawal from the euro. Many observers across Europe were stunned by the move. Yanis Varoufakis was not. When I spoke with Greece’s former finance minister last week, I asked him whether any deal struck in the days ahead would be good for his country.

“If anything it will be worse,” he said. “I trust and hope that our government will insist on debt restructuring, but I can’t see how the German finance minister [Wolfgang Schäuble] is ever going to sign up to this. If he does, it will be a miracle.”

It’s a miracle the Greek people are likely to be waiting for a long time for. On Friday night, when Greece’s parliament agreed to an austerity programme that voters had overwhelmingly rejected in a referendum five days earlier, a deal seemed imminent. A partial write-off of its debt owed to the so-called "Troika" – the IMF, the European Central bank and the European Commission – was unlikely but possible. Now, despite its government’s capitulation, Greece has no debt relief and may yet be thrown out of the Eurozone.

MORE:
http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2015/07/exclusive-yanis-varoufakis-opens-about-his-five-month-battle-save-greece

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It is so hard to sift through the vast amount written about this situation, still...one never trusts the agenda, at least I don't. Here you have it straight from Varoufakis...

July 13, 2015

An Open Response to the Condescending Letter to Bernie Sanders Supporters on Huffington Post

Published on Jul 9, 2015

Today, Huffington post posted a a blog letter to the Bernie Sanders Supporters from a Hillary Clinton mouthpiece. My response. You can find the letter I am responding to here. The author is having a hard time finding significant differences on Clinton and Bernie. I let him know of a few.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-d-rosenstein/an-open-letter-to-bernie_b_7761360.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics